Traditional Music

It was a quiet night for a revolution. People at the bar in Joe Squared Station North sat huddled over drinks and conversations. Folks occasionally strolled in to pick up pizza orders or headed to dining tables in the back. Few even glanced at the small group of musicians nestled by the storefront window playing Bach. But those players, members of a national movement called Classical Revolution, soldiered on for several hours, dedicated to the cause of bringing a venerable old art form into unexpected places.

The curtain-raising scene of Jesus appearing "in ancient upstate New York" is the first little clue that "The Book of Mormon" is not your average Broadway musical. By the time the show ends, every politically incorrect button has been pushed, every doorbell rung. With true missionary zeal, the creators of this hugely popular work, which reaches Baltimore on Tuesday, satirize not just one religion, but all of them. Various peoples, practices and conditions are heartily targeted in the process, too. But when all is said, sung and stung, "Book of Mormon" is really a big, old-fashioned musical, one with the same basic structure that served Rodgers and Hammerstein so well.

All Deborah Brower wanted was to bring traditional Irish music to Howard County.What she received was a practical education in concert promotion with a tuition of more than $1,000.Her two-month effort will come to fruition tonight when Dordan, a female trio from Connemara, Ireland, will perform at the 110-seat Little Theatre on the Corner in Ellicott City.Dordan is composed of Kathleen Loughnane, harp, Dearbhaill Standun, fiddle and playing the Irish tin whistle, Mary Bergin, who Ms. Brower said, is "one of the most brilliant Irish whistle players around."

It was a quiet night for a revolution. People at the bar in Joe Squared Station North sat huddled over drinks and conversations. Folks occasionally strolled in to pick up pizza orders or headed to dining tables in the back. Few even glanced at the small group of musicians nestled by the storefront window playing Bach. But those players, members of a national movement called Classical Revolution, soldiered on for several hours, dedicated to the cause of bringing a venerable old art form into unexpected places.

If you wanted to pigeonhole flutist Chris Norman, it would be tempting to describe him as a "classical crossover" musician. On the one hand, he's extremely capable on both the modern flute and the older wooden flute and has performed everything from early music to the work of contemporary composers. On the other, he's also a celebrated folk musician who has demonstrated his command of the Celtic idiom for decades in concert halls and ceilis. And when he plays a piece such as Brian Christopher Packham's "Cape Breton Concerto" -- which he performs this evening with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra -- he draws on the best of both worlds.

Like green beer, paper shamrocks and cartoon leprechauns, Irish music has long been a part of St. Patrick's Day here in the United States. For many, St. Patrick's Day without music would be like cabbage without corned beef. But the kind of music we associate with the wearin' of the green is changing. Where once Irish Americans hankered for sweet-voiced tenors crooning "Come Back to Erin," "Mother Machree" and "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," today's revelers would as soon hear the uilleann pipes and fiddles laying into a set of jigs and reels.

When Celtic Crossroads performs at the Columbia Festival of the Arts on June 24, the seven-member band of Irish musicians will sound off with a more modern take on the traditional music of their homeland. Call it non-traditional Irish music. When Celtic Crossroads performs at the Columbia Festival of the Arts on June 24, the seven-member band of Irish musicians will sound off with a more modern take on the traditional music of their homeland. Granted, the group's stage show includes fiddles, flutes and a harp.

When Ken Kolodner first entered the realm of traditional world music, he had no aspirations to play in public. His only goal, he said, was to one day play with other people. Now, about 30 years later, Kolodner, 53, a Baltimore resident since birth, is viewed as one of the most influential players of the hammered dulcimer, a string instrument, in the country. Also a dulcimer teacher, fiddler and hammered mbira player, the self-taught musician has released several recordings and books and performed for nearly two decades as one-third of the Baltimore-based world folk-music trio Helicon.

"It's the same message, different time." That's how Martin Wilson, a member of the Baltimore-based Choir Boyz, describes the essence of gospel music today. The ensemble will be delivering that message along with Grammy-winner Yolanda Adams in a "Gospel Extravaganza" this evening at the Baltimore Convention Center, presented by the Visionary Marketing Group in conjunction with the NAACP National Convention. Adams and the Choir Boyz are among a host of artists who have been redefining gospel music, helping to make it speak in compelling ways to new listeners.

Begin with one part kitchen table. Mix in 3 cups of string and one bowling ball, throw in a dash of engineering expertise and a passion for experimental music. For "sound mechanic" extraordinaire Neil Feather, that's a recipe for success. Feather, an exhibit technician at Port Discovery, has been inventing and building musical instruments for more than 30 years, since he was 16 years old - beginning in the early '70s, when he and some friends formed a car band in western Pennsylvania called Tanadril Oxyphenbutazone NF Giegy (after ingredients in an arthritis medicine)

Joseph Patrick Byrne, founder and proprietor of J. Patrick's Irish Pub, a popular Locust Point tavern with a reputation as a venue for Irish music that went well beyond Baltimore, died Saturday of cancer at Harbor Hospital. The former Cockeysville resident was 81. "It was a real gathering place for the Irish-American community of Baltimore, and it had the feel of a rural country bar, the type you find outside of Dublin. It was both warm and inviting," said Gov. Martin O'Malley.

We're at the finale already (didn't this season seem short?). I'll say it right here at the top of the episode - unless William falls repeatedly on his keister, requiring the judges to give him 5's across the board, there's no way he's not winning this thing. That being said, I'd be OK with any of the three finalists winning, even though I'm personally Team Driver. Tonight's show will have each couple dancing two dances:  1. Judge's pick, which are new routines danced to new music, but in a style the couple has previously danced and in which the judges would like to see them improve.  2. Freestyle Tomorrow night, the couples will be doing some sort of third scored dance, details about which we'll learn later.

When Celtic Crossroads performs at the Columbia Festival of the Arts on June 24, the seven-member band of Irish musicians will sound off with a more modern take on the traditional music of their homeland. Call it non-traditional Irish music. When Celtic Crossroads performs at the Columbia Festival of the Arts on June 24, the seven-member band of Irish musicians will sound off with a more modern take on the traditional music of their homeland. Granted, the group's stage show includes fiddles, flutes and a harp.

Old will be new again this weekend at the annual Richmond Folk Festival. Now in its third year, the festival casts a contemporary light on traditional folk culture through live music, dance, arts and food. Artists, dancers and more than 30 musicians will be on hand to showcase a heritage that brings communities together through common regions, religions and artistic expression. More than 160,000 attended last year's event. "We don't focus so much on getting a few big names as much as getting together the best folk artists in the region, if not the world," said Joshua Kohn, programming manager for the National Council for the Traditional Arts, which organizes the festival.

When Ken Kolodner first entered the realm of traditional world music, he had no aspirations to play in public. His only goal, he said, was to one day play with other people. Now, about 30 years later, Kolodner, 53, a Baltimore resident since birth, is viewed as one of the most influential players of the hammered dulcimer, a string instrument, in the country. Also a dulcimer teacher, fiddler and hammered mbira player, the self-taught musician has released several recordings and books and performed for nearly two decades as one-third of the Baltimore-based world folk-music trio Helicon.

French singer Claire Lise turned an interest in theater into a career in cabaret. Lise, who plays An die Musik Live tomorrow night, was a budding actor who turned to music as a child. She wrote her first song at age 9 and moved to Paris after completing school. In Paris, she met a pianist, and the two began writing and arranging authentic cabaret numbers. Though Lise uses a traditional approach (accordion, piano, bass, guitar and vocals), she writes songs that resonate with audiences today, she said.

We're at the finale already (didn't this season seem short?). I'll say it right here at the top of the episode - unless William falls repeatedly on his keister, requiring the judges to give him 5's across the board, there's no way he's not winning this thing. That being said, I'd be OK with any of the three finalists winning, even though I'm personally Team Driver. Tonight's show will have each couple dancing two dances:  1. Judge's pick, which are new routines danced to new music, but in a style the couple has previously danced and in which the judges would like to see them improve.  2. Freestyle Tomorrow night, the couples will be doing some sort of third scored dance, details about which we'll learn later.

The curtain-raising scene of Jesus appearing "in ancient upstate New York" is the first little clue that "The Book of Mormon" is not your average Broadway musical. By the time the show ends, every politically incorrect button has been pushed, every doorbell rung. With true missionary zeal, the creators of this hugely popular work, which reaches Baltimore on Tuesday, satirize not just one religion, but all of them. Various peoples, practices and conditions are heartily targeted in the process, too. But when all is said, sung and stung, "Book of Mormon" is really a big, old-fashioned musical, one with the same basic structure that served Rodgers and Hammerstein so well.

XALAPA, MEXICO / / In this misty town tucked in the Sierra Madre mountain range, far from Mexico's tourist track, a musical revolution is unfolding. In the clubs that dot Xalapa's winding streets and alleyways, young musicians are preserving -- and transforming -- a traditional folk genre called son jarocho. It's a soulful, foot-stomping style (think "La Bamba" but better) typically played on small guitars plucked in jazzy improvisations or strummed faster than the eye can see. Performances often turn into all-night jams called fandangos that unveil the joys and sorrows, the injustices and absurdities of life, love and politics.

A South African brand of gospel is coming to Baltimore next month, when the Soweto Gospel Choir performs at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. "Our sound is South African traditional gospel," says director David Mulovhedzi. "That's the gospel that was started by our forefathers in the olden days. That's the gospel we really work on. "When we are on stage we use the African drums, you know, the djembe," he says. "There's a lot of body movement on stage because when we praise God according to the traditional `African God Song,' you sing and dance and ululate.